RRD's Quinlan Garners NYU Prism Award

NEW YORK—Thomas Quinlan, president and CEO of Chicago-based RR Donnelley (RRD), was honored last Tuesday with the 25th annual Prism Award during a luncheon at Gotham Hall here attended by more than 400 industry leaders. One hundred percent of the net proceeds from the $750-per-ticket fundraising event help fund student scholarships, as well as student and program support, for New York University's School of Continuing and Professonal Studies (SCPS) Graphic Communications Management and Technology graduate program.

The 2011 Prism Award was presented to Quinlan by Harold McGraw, chairman, president and CEO of McGraw-Hill, who praised Quinlan for his numerous graphic arts industry accomplishments and longtime support of education. McGraw-Hill and RR Donnelley have maintained a 49-year, continuous business relationship, according to McGraw.

Quinlan, 47, served at World Color Press from 1994 to 1999, and then at Moore Wallace from 2000 to 2004. He joined RR Donnelley in 2004, with primary responsibility for the integration of RR Donnelley and Moore Wallace. Quinlan was named group president of RRD's Global Services and CFO in 2006. Today, he oversees a nearly $10 billion printing and printing-related business, with approximately 55,000 employees and more than 600 locations around the globe.

During his acceptance speech, Quinlan highlighted the evolution of RR Donnelley from primarily an ink-on-paper manufacturer, to a custom communications solutions provider that draws on a range of proprietary and commercially available digital and conventional technologies to provide premedia, printing, logistics and business process outsourcing services to private and public sector clients worldwide. He stressed the importance of printers evolving into services incorporating multiple mediums that add value for their customers to their customers' clients in the overall supply chain.

The 2011 Alumni Award was presented to Joseph Truncale, president and CEO of the Naional Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), who received his Ph.D. last month from the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. Truncale also serves as an adjunct faculty member at the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies, teaching courses in financial planning and analysis, as well as executive leadership. His doctoral dissertation was a study of entrepreneurial leadership in the graphic communications industry.